Integrated report 2021

The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) is responsible for the process of preparing highway construction investments for the final stage (road works and their supervision) in Poland.

In 2021, the key programme that regulated the directions of development of the national road network was the National Roads Construction Programme for 2014-2023 (with an outlook to 2025). The expenditure limit for the National Road Fund has been increased to PLN 163.9 billion in 2020.

In 2021, the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) commissioned 425 km of new roads compared to 140 km commissioned in 2020. Investment expenditure of the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways amounted to PLN 15.1 billion. In addition, it signed 46 contracts for roads with a total length of 555 km and a value of PLN 16.8 billion, of which 35 contracts are tasks from the PBDK with a total length of 465 km and a value of over PLN 15.3 billion, and 11 are bypasses from the Programme for the Construction of 100 bypasses with a length of 90.1 km and a value of nearly PLN 1.5 billion. At the end of 2021, the order portfolios of the largest contracting companies in Poland will have reached their historically highest volumes.

In 2021, however, the number of bids announced by the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) has decreased. Bids were announced for 27 sections with a total length of about 334 km and a value of over PLN 15 billion (25 tasks from PBDK with a total length of 325.3 km and 2 bypasses from the Programme for the Construction of 100 Bypasses for 2020-2030 with a total length of 9 km).  In comparison, 48 bids were issued in 2020 for sections with a total length of 600 km. In 2021, for the second year in a row, there was a decrease in the value of bids submitted by contractors in relation to the investor’s budget to 76% on average (compared to 82% in 2020).

In August 2021, the Ministry of Infrastructure presented a draft of the Government Programme for the Construction of National Roads until 2030 (with an outlook until 2033). The programme assumes, among other things, the construction of 2,500 km of new expressways. The main objective of the programme is to complete the entire motorway and expressway network in Poland, i.e. the missing sections of S10, S11, S12, S16, S74 and the border section of the A2. A total amount of approximately PLN 292 billion will be allocated for the implementation of the investments included in the new programme. It is the biggest road programme in Poland’s history. The financial limit includes new tasks worth about PLN 187 billion and continued tasks worth about PLN 105 billion. The most important investments planned under the National Roads Construction Programme until 2030 are: widening of the A4 motorway at the length of 370 km between Krzyżowa and Tarnów with the estimated cost of PLN 35.5 billion, construction of the Warsaw Agglomeration Ring Road within the A50 S50 at the length of 260 km and value of PLN 35 billion as well as adding the third lane on the A2 motorway between Konotopa and Łódź.

The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) has presented six corridor alternatives for the planned section of the S7 road between Kraków and Myślenice, about 20 km long. The cost of construction, depending on the variant, ranges from 4.6 to 6.5 billion PLN. This is currently the only section of the S7 road leading from Gdańsk to Rabka Zdrój for which not even design work has begun. December 2021 saw the start of consultations between the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) and contractors regarding the development of traffic maintenance issues during the planned extension of the third lane on the 90 km section of the A2 motorway between Konotopa and Łódź. In 2022 it is planned to obtain financing for the investment and launch a bid for its construction. Also this year, an analysis will begin on the possibility of adding a third lane to the A1 motorway along a 34.8 km section between Włocławek and Toruń. The estimated cost of the investment is PLN 490 million.

In 2022 an announcement of the bidding for the expansion of roads for tasks with a total length of 475 km and a value of about PLN 22.5 billion. The largest tasks will be the construction of the 61 km long S12 road between Piaski and Dorohusk and the 45 km long S17 road between Piaski and Hrebenne. In addition, it is planned to complete the renovation of 323 km of roads at an estimated cost of PLN 400 million. These include a 33-kilometre section of the A4 motorway between Góra św. Anny – the border of the Silesian and Opole provinces, and a 12-kilometre section of the S86 road Sosnowiec – Katowice.